Abstract

Plastics are old. The earliest recipe for making a casein-based plastic dates back almost 500 years. And long before that there were alchemists who dedicated themselves to creating substances to replace expensive raw materials. To the present day, the endeavours of those who attempted to fabricate gold and fortunes for themselves, or their clients, are well known. Efforts to develop plastics are not quite as spectacular. Their appeal, however, lies in their happy endings - and so it is even today.